Former Solicitor General Ted Cruz did not attend the rally, but criticized the law on Friday, saying certain provisions in the law are “shocking” and “unconstitutional.”

The NDAA, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Dec. 31, is an annually approved act aimed at funding the defense of the United States.

However, Section 1021 of the bill has stirred controversy.

“Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force” including “authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain” persons who “planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks or is “a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States,” the section reads.

“The disposition of a person” described may include “detention under law without trial until the end of the hostilities” and “transfer to the custody or control of the person’s country of origin, any other foreign country or entity.”

Ted Cruz

Cruz, in the middle of a heated U.S. Senate race, said America “should always remain vigilant in the war on terror, but the Constitution does not allow an American citizen, arrested on U.S. soil, to be detained indefinitely without a trial.”

Outside the Capitol, the group of protesters held signs calling for the repeal of the NDAA.

One sign listed Texas’ U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett as supporting “indefinite detention of American citizens” and called for immediate repeal of the law.

“The U.S. Government is a terrorist organization,” another sign read.

Michelle Millette, organizer of the event, said the NDAA takes away freedoms of Americans including due process of law.

“This is, essentially, the government saying ‘We now have the right to incarcerate you without trial, we can just hold you indefinitely,’” Millette said. “A huge part of our freedom is the fact that we can speak out without fear of being detained or a soldier showing up on your doorstep.”

Millette, an Austin filmmaker, said some of the protesters are members of Occupy Austin and that the rally was endorsed by the Austin group.

Bubba Ridgeway, organizer of the Texas Occupy Movement, said the protest is aimed raising awareness among citizens about problems with the NDAA.

Protesters line Congress Ave. (Photo By Kolten Parker)

Dawn McLain, a Plano resident who brought her two daughters sightseeing in Austin, said she was happy to be able to show her daughters the protest because there are not many rallies in their hometown.

“I’m not an ‘Occupier,’ I’m a suburban mom,” McLain said.

McLain, who was passing by the protest on her way out of the Capitol, said she was trying to explain to her daughter the reasons behind the protest.

“It’s interesting because she just had a test over the U.S. Constitution,” McLain said. “I am trying to explain to her how Guantanamo Bay violates that by holding people without trials. Based on how you interpret the constitution, these people have a legitimate beef.”

Millette said she expects more protesters to join the rally at 6 p.m. on the lawn of the State house which will be followed by a march down Congress Ave.